Mixed reactions to Kandy visit on the Saturday

 

• On the plus side:   I treated myself to a night at the Queen’s Hotel right in the centre of Kandy town.  It’s an 1840’s vintage Raj classic – large rooms, polished floorboards and old style furniture.
• The town was decked out to the nines for the festival (birth of Buddha I believe) paper lanterns and flags festooned the streets and everyone is highspirited and out in force
• I bought some lovely indian cotton blouses – 6 in all. I love the cool feel of them and the simple patterns
• Dinner was wonderful and so is Indian Barfi and a newly discovered delight called Wattalappan – a Sri Lankan desert
•  I managed to buy some essentials like loo roll (non-existent at base camp!) and washing powder
• Received an education on the protocols of catching buses by Chinthaka. We caught a bus together to Kandy – this will hold me in good stead as at the end of the project I’ll be bussing it around.

On the negative side:

• Away from the protective and idyllic project base and sanity of village life I discover I’ve become ‘fair game’ for all the touts and those that have a distorted view of women who travel alone and unescorted!
• The streets were choked with people enjoying the festival but the din was brain-addling; car horns and party pips and whistles – no where to run and nowhere to hide when I’d had my fill
• Botanical Gardens disappointed me after reading some good reviews on some trip reports – only very common species and 2 new ones for me. Hundreds of people there and a couple of unsavoury types too and some uncouth young lads who may have been high on something.
• My tuk tuk driver to and from Botanical Gardens nearly drove me to distraction trying to direct me to any number of outlets for clothes, jewellery, antiques – he must have been working on commissions as a side line for sure – he was just too draining

So ended the day in Kandy with me eager to return to the project, but it turned out I was too hasty because the next day was unforgettable for all the best possible reasons.